Hunters often hunt for waterfowl over some type of water body such as a pond, lake, or marshy area. These hunters typically hunt from a blind and attract waterfowl by placing a number of floating waterfowl decoys in the water in a close enough proximity to attract waterfowl to within shooting range of the hunter. These decoys are typically tethered to a weight and remain stationary in the water or only move wherever the wind and current may naturally move the decoy within the limits of the length of the tether. Such decoys are often insufficient to attract waterfowl, particularly after the first few days of a hunting season, when waterfowl typically become wary of decoys.
In order to more effectively attract waterfowl, a number of decoy systems have been developed to give movement to a decoy in order to make the decoy appear to be a live bird paddling along the surface of the water. For instance, some prior art decoy systems provide for a remote controlled decoy that the operator may move in any desired direction. Other systems provide for an apparatus that pulls a decoy along a pre-determined path using submerged lines or belts guided by a system of pulleys. However, there are a number of problems with such decoy movement systems. Remote controlled systems are inconvenient to operate while hunting. Other systems are difficult and time-consuming to set up and are thus not easy to move to a new hunting location.
Accordingly, a need exists in the art for a decoy movement system that is simple and convenient to operate while hunting. Furthermore, a need exists in the art for a decoy movement system that is easy and convenient to set up and to move to new hunting locations.